Concrete holding and mixing assembly and method of transporting and distributing concrete

ABSTRACT

An independent assembly for holding and mixing concrete comprises a mixing drum, power drive means for rotating the drum, a base support member to which the drum and drive means are secured, and hydraulic lift means for raising and lowering the base support member. A plurality of independent assemblies, once filled with concrete are directed to a distribution area or jobsite by a single truck having an extended chassis on which a first one of the filled assemblies is secured and pulling one or more additional trailers on which others of the assemblies are secured. At the jobsite the trailer mounted assemblies are dropped off and the truck advances around the area discharging the concrete. Thereafter, the empty assembly is elevated by a hydraulic lift means, disengaged from the truck chassis and one of the filled assemblies is then secured on the truck and the concrete discharged.

United States Patent 11 1 Sheets [21] Appl. No; 401,215

|7h| Inventor:

[52] US. Cl. .i 259/148; 214/5151259/l72. 259/[77 R |5l| Int. CI. B28e5/18 Field of Search U 259/148 l59 R. 159 A,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3.050159 El/l962 Paulus .I259/159 A 3.l3l,9l3 5/[964 Swurthnut w v 4 i 4 I .i Z59/l77 R 1257.0326/l966 Stout I i i l l l l l l i, 259/!60 3,526,392 9/l97i) Buelow259/l48 3,612.49l lU/I97l MCKillop 259/l77 R I0 nllllliiiillln-"i"lllllliiii;

M l June 10, 1975 Allurnvy. Agent, or Firm-Jerry R Seilei {57} ABSTRACTAn independent assembly for holding and mixing concrete comprises amixing drum. power drive means for rotating the drum a base supportmember to which the drum and drive means are secured and hydraulic liftmeans for raising and lowering the base support member. A plurality ofindependent assemblies, once filled with concrete are directed to adistribution area or jobsite by a single truck having an extendedchassis on which a first one of the filled assemblies is secured andpulling one or more additional trailers on which others of theassemblies are secured At the jobsite the trailer mounted assemblies aredropped off and the truck advances around the area discharging theconcrete. Thereafter. the empty assembly is elevated by a hydraulic liftmeans, disengaged from the truck chassis and one of the filledassemblies is then secured on the truck and the concrete discharged.

7 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTEDJUH 10 ms 3, 88 a .467

FIGURE l.

FIGURE 2.

PATENTEDJUH 10 1915 I a 3'4 6 T FIGURE 3.

CONCRETE HOLDING AND MIXING ASSEMBLY AND METHOD OF TRANSPORTING ANDDISTRIBUTING CONCRETE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Truck mixers fortransporting and delivering ready mix concrete to a jobsite are wellknown and have been extensively used for that purpose. These unitscomprise a truck or transport vehicle having an extended chassis onwhich mixer drum assemblies are secured. These units normally arecapable of carrying between about 6 and about 9 yards of ready mixconcrete. Although such truck mixers are very useful for transportingand discharging the concrete at the specific desired loca tion, they arelimited in the amount of concrete which can be carried at one time.Thus, being so limited since only a single mixer drum assembly can besecured on a truck, it must make repeated trips between the concretebatch plant and jobsites or a plurality of trucks must be used in orderto deliver a specific larger required amount of concrete. Althoughlarger truck mix ers have been proposed, the chassis of a truck ortransport vehicle is limited by the weight that it can carry which inturn inherently limits the load capability and capacity of the mixerdrum. Moreover, extremely heavy loads on a single transport vehiclechassis may exceed weight limits on roads and highways. Further,although semi-trailers for carrying larger loads are available, forexample, twelve yard trailer mixers, such rigs are usually unsuitablebecause ofdifficult handling characteristics in discharging the concreteat specific locations on jobsites and particularly where thedistribution space is somewhat limited. It is to the elimination ofthese disadvantages and especially the limitation of the amounts ofconcrete that a single truck or transport vehicle may haul to a jobsitethat the present invention is directed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention toprovide an independent mixer assembly which may be raised and lowered,mounted on a truck chassis or full trailer and easily removed therefromas desired. It is a further object of the invention to provide a methodfor transporting significantly greater amounts of ready mix concrete toa jobsite by a single truck, tractor or transport vehicle than has beenpreviously possible. It is a further object of the invention to providea method of delivering and discharging the concrete from the independentmixer units at the jobsite without any additional equipment other thanthe truck or transport vehicle. These as well as other objects will beevident from the detailed description following.

The present invention resides in an independent concrete mixer assemblywhich includes a drum, power means for rotating the drum (to maintainready mix concrete in a fluid state), a base support member in which thedrum and the power means are secured, and hydraulic lift means forraising and lowering the sup port member and drum. This assembly may besecured to either a full trailer or truck chassis for transporting theconcrete from a source point such as a batch plant to a jobsite.

Utilizing the mixing assembly of the invention, after being filled tothe desired extent with concrete, one of the assemblies is secured to atruck chassis and another assembly to a full trailer which trailer isthen attached to the truck for being pulled. Once at the jobsite, thefull trailer is disengaged and the truck mixer, which includes the truckand first mixer assembly, is driven around the jobsite while theconcrete is discharged as and where desired. The truck is then driven tothe location of the trailer, reconnected thereto and the full mixerassembly is elevated by hydraulic lift means from the trailer bed to befree standing. The truck is pulled forward some distance leaving thefull standing assembly behind. After stopping the truck, the emptyassembly is elevated from the truck chassis and the truck and trailerpulled forward until the empty assembly is directly over the trailer,where it is then lowered and secured. The trailer is then disconnectedfrom the truck chassis and the truck is backed under the full or loadedassembly where it is lowered and secured. The concrete may also then bedischarged at the jobsite as and where desired.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side view illustrating themixer assembly of the invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates two mixer assemblies of FIG. 1, one on a truckchassis and the other on a full trailer for being transported;

FIG. 3 illustrates a mixer assembly which has been raised for beingsecured to or removed from a truck chassis; and

FIG. 4 is an end view of the base support member showing a horizontalhydraulic ram embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring initially to FIG. 1,there is shown a mixer assembly 10 having a mixer drum 20 secured to abase support platform 14. The assembly includes a motor 24 for drivingdrum 20 rotationally in two directions, one direction for mixing theother for discharging. The motor is included in this power drive meansfor rotating the drum as are a fuel supply for the motor and drive gearsto the drum as will be appreciated. A water tank 22 is also required onan independent mixer unit for providing water to be added to the drumduring the mixing operation to maintain concrete in a desirable fluidcondition. Thus, water supply lines to the drum interior, drains,nozzles and the like will also be present. The water tank may be of thepressure type or provided with a pump.

The mixer drum which includes internal mixing and discharge blades isalso provided with a hopper into which concrete is loaded into the drum.A chute 19 which may include extensions and multi-position locks so thatconcrete may be discharged from the mixer at any desired location, oneither side of the truck. A control assembly panel 26 is also providedat any convenient location to allow the operator to control the mixerassembly outside of the truck cab. Other equip ment may also be providedon the assembly as desired.

Means for raising and lowering the assembly comprises a hydraulic liftor ram 16 having a piston rod I8 extending therefrom and a plate 17 atthe lower end of the piston rod. The purpose of the hydraulic ram, whichwill of course be present at all four corners of base support member 14,is for elevating and lowering the support member and, of course, theentire mixer assembly. When this is to be accomplished, an operator mayraise and lower the assembly through this hydraulic lift means byextending piston rods 18 to any desired extent inwardly or outwardlyfrom hydraulic ram 16 as desired. Preferably. a lever for this isprovided on control panel 26 and all four rams should worksimultaneously so that the exposed piston rods will extend substantiallyequally. A safety device or mechanism for maintaining all of thevertical rams in an extended position when the assembly is free standingand preventing tipping in case of hydraulic pump failure may also beincorporated.

A signal device may be used for informing the operator in the truck cabwhen the truck chassis or trailer bed is in proper position relative tothe assembly. Such a device will be of great assistance to the drivergiving him warning when he should stop the truck when pulling forward orbacking under an assembly. Any means may be used such as a spring loadedtwo way switch in an electrical circuit having a light or buzzer alarm.one or two switches installed on the truck or trailer at a suitableposition for being contacted by the assembly to close the circuit.

A further embodiment is illustrated in FIG. 4 providing a horizontalhydraulic ram 28 and cooperating with piston rod 29. The purpose forthis horizontal ram. again which is on all four corners of base supportmember 14, allows for clearance of the tires and wheels of a fulltrailer or truck chassis. in other words, where the wheels or tires of atrailer or truck extend laterally to such an extent that they wouldinterfere with or contact ram 16 when in location such as shown in FIG.3, the vertical lift means must be extended somewhat horizontally andoutwardly to provide necessary clearance so that a truck or trailer canbe pulled away from the device as shown. Accordingly, the embodimentillustrated in FIG. 4 wherein hydraulic ram 28 and piston rod 29 willextend ram 16 and piston rod 18 horizon tally to a desired extent toprovide necessary clearance for the wheels and tires. a truck chassis ortrailer can be readily placed under or pulled away from the assembly forthe purpose as will be further explained hereinafter.

The method of using the assembly of the invention in transportingconcrete to a jobsite and there distributing it is as follows:

Two or more assemblies as shown in FIG. 1 are filled to any desiredextent with ready mix concrete at the batch plant or other source point.it will be understood that the desired amount of concrete is placed inmixing drum 20 of each assembly and the power means or motor forrotating the drums are started at any desired rate. It will beunderstood by those skilled in the art that until the concrete has beencompletely distributed and discharged from the drum, some drum turningis required at all times in order to maintain concrete in a fluid stateand prevent it from setting up. The drum may be filled while theassembly is maintained in a sta tionary location as illustrated in FIG.1 or the assemblies may be secured to a truck and full trailer as shownin H6. 2 and transported to the concrete supply point where the drumsare filled. lt will be noted that when the assemblies are secured to theextended truck chassis and full trailer respectively, the pistons havebeen drawn into the hydraulic rams so that the full weight of eachassembly rests on the truck or trailer as shown.

An operator will transport the filled assemblies to a jobsite with thetruck 15 carrying mixer assembly 11 while full trailer 32. connected tothe truck, carrying the assembly 21. It should be appreciated that thislatter assembly will have its own independent drum rotating means andproviding whatever power necessary for that purpose independent of thetruck 5.

Once the operator has transported both of these assemblies to a jobsite,trailer 32 is disconnected from the truck and it and mixer nsr'vnbly f!T 1": desirable location while the operator transports assembly 11around the jobsite distributing and discharging the concrete to desiredlocations. )ncc the drum of assembly 11 has been emptied, the operatorwill transport it to the location of trailer 32 and reconnect thetrailer to the truck. Thereafter, he will actuate hydraulic rams 16 ofthe full assembly 21 to extend piston rods 18 to a position as shown inFIG. 1 so that it will be free standing from the trailer. Moreover, ifrequired to provide clearance for the tires of the trailer thehorizontal extending hydraulic rams 28 may be actuated as shown in FIG.4. Thereafter the truck and attached trailer are pulled forward so thatthe trailer is removed from under the full assembly. The truck isstopped and the empty assembly disconnected and elevated to a freestanding position as described regarding assembly ll and shown in FIGS.1 and 3. The truck is then driven straight forward until the trailer isdirectly beneath the empty assembly which is then lowered and secured onthe trailer. Thereafter the trailer is disconnected and the truck drivento the free standing full assembly, where it is backed into position asshown in FIG. 3. The assembly is then lowered on the chassis and securedand the vertically extending hydraulic rams are retracted so that thetruck now supports the full weight of the assembly. The operator thenagain transports the concrete around a jobsite and discharges it atdesired locations. Once this second assembly and mixer drum have beenemptied, the driver may return to the first emptied assembly. secure itto the trailer 32 and transport both mixer assemblies back to theconcrete loading point where they may be again filled if desired. Thesequence described in exchanging the full assembly for the empty one ispreferred since it will be appreciated that it is most difficult to backa trailer precisely under a free standing assembly where the clearanceof wheels and tires thereunder are quite small. Thus, for example, theoperator could remove the filled assembly from the trailer prior toreconnecting the truck. Such variations in sequence of steps inexchanging a loaded assembly on the truck chassis for an empty onewithin the purview of the invention will be understood by those skilledin the art.

It will be appreciated that although the above method has been describedwith two mixer assemblies, three or more of such assemblies may beutilized. lt will be understood that for each additional mixer assembly,another full trailer will be required and these trailers may be pulledin tandem by the truck. The only limitation, of course, is the number ofsuch trailers and full assemblies the truck is capable of pulling.Regardless of how many assemblies are pulled to a jobsite by a singletruck, it will be understood that the operator simply needs to park thefilled assemblies while the concrete in the assembly which has beensecured to the truck chassis is distributed at the jobsite. Thereafter,the operator extends the hydraulic rams so that the truck is removedfrom the assembly at any desirable location. The truck then proceeds toone of the filled mixer assemblies, the trailer is removed and theassembly secured to the truck chassis as previously explained. It willbe understood that the present invention offers distinct advantages overprior art methods of transporting and distributing concrete where singletrucks transport only single mixer units which obviously limits theamount of concrete which can be transported by one trip of the truck.This as well as other advantages and embodiments within the purview ofthe invention will be evident to those skilled in the art.

in another embodiment of the invention. the assembly may be providedwith a conveyor belt or other means for transferring a portion or all ofthe cement in a filled drum to an empty drum. For example, observ ingFIG. 2, assembly 2]. if provided with a conveyor, could be used totransfer a portion of its concrete to assembly 11 by backing truck 15 upto the unit so that concrete could be transferred without exchangingassemblies as previously disclosed. The conveyor would be used to carryconcrete discharged from assembly 21 (from the chute) to the hopper ofassembly 11. This embodiment would be useful if only a portion of theconcrete from assembly 21 were required to complete a job and may savetime in transferring the concrete portion rather than exchangingassemblies from trailer to truck.

I claim:

I. An assembly independent from a truck chassis or trailer frame forholding and mixing concrete comprising: a mixing drum. power drive meansfor rotating said drum, a base support member to which said drum anddrive means are secured, and hydraulic lift means for selectivelyraising and lowering said base support member and being extendable tosupport said assembly on a ground surface and retractable to lower saidassembly for being mounted on a truck chassis or trailer.

2. The assembly of claim l wherein said lift means comprises a pluralityof hydraulic rams.

3. The assembly of claim 2 including a plurality of horizontallyextendable members to which said hydrau lic rams are attached.

4. The assembly of claim 3 wherein said extendable members arehydraulically operated.

5. The assembly of claim 2 wherein said frame has four corners and saidhydraulic rams are secured adja cent said corner for simultaneouslyraising and lowering said corners to maintain said support membersubstantially horizontal.

6. The assembly of claim 1 including chute means for delivering concretefrom said drum.

7. A method of transporting and distributing concrete comprising:

a. filling a plurality of independent concrete holding and mixingassemblies of claim 1;

b. securing a first one of said assemblies on a truck chassis andsecuring each of the others of said assemblies on a towing trailer;

0. connecting said towing trailers in tandem to said truck trailer andtowing said assemblies to a distribution area with said truck;

d. disengaging said towing trailers and distributing concrete from firstassembly until said drum is emptied;

e. elevating said full assembly from said trailer by said hydraulic liftmeans, and reconnecting the trailer to the truck, pulling the trailerfrom under the full assembly, elevating the empty assembly and securingit to the trailer, disconnecting said trailer and moving said truck fromsaid emptied assembly and trailer to said full assembly and securing itthereto; and

f. distributing concrete from said other full assembly till emptied andrepeating step (e) till all of the full

1. An assembly independent from a truck chassis or trailer frame forholding and mixing concrete comprising: a mixing drum, power drive meansfor rotating said drum, a base support member to which said drum anddrive means are secured, and hydraulic lift means for selectivelyraising and lowering said base support member and being extendable tosupport said assembly on a ground surface and retractable to lower saidassembly for being mounted on a truck chassis or trailer.
 2. Theassembly of claim 1 wherein said lift means comprises a plurality ofhydraulic rams.
 3. The assembly of claim 2 including a plurality ofhorizontally extendable members to which said hydraulic rams areattached.
 4. The assembly of claim 3 wherein said extendable members arehydraulically operated.
 5. The assembly of claim 2 wherein said framehas four corners and said hydraulic rams are secured adjacent saidcorner for simultaneously raising and lowering said corners to maintainsaid support member substantially horizontal.
 6. The assembly of claim 1including chute means for delivering concrete from said drum.
 7. Amethod of transporting and distributing concrete comprising: a. fillinga plurality of independent concrete holding and mixing assemblies ofclaim 1; b. securing a first one of said assemblies on a truck chassisand securing each of the others of said assemblies on a towing trailer;c. connecting said towing trailers in tandem to said truck trailer andtowing said assemblies to a distribution area with said truck; d.disengaging said towing trailers and distributing concrete from firstassembly until said drum is emptied; e. elevating said full assemblyfrom said trailer by said hydraulic lift means, and reconnecting thetrailer to the truck, pulling the trailer from under the full assembly,elevating the empty assembly and securing it to the trailer,disconnecting said trailer and moving said truck from said emptiedassembly and trailer to said full assembly and securing it thereto; andf. distributing concrete from said other full assembly till emptied andrepeating step (e) till all of the full assemblies are emptied.